“It is a moment of pride that Afghanistan hosts its first Test match and it carries a lot of meaning for us. Although, we lost our inaugural Test match to India last year but we will aim to play in the upcoming Test match with full strength.”

Ireland captain William Porterfield who also addressed the press conference said:

“First and foremost, it will be completely different conditions [in the Test match] - our first Test match against Pakistan was a home game in Malahide in May whereas we are in Dehradun here in India in March. We will see how the pitch is in the next couple of days and expect it not to be very different.”